Since I have been listening to Zevon and I know that Sentimental Hygiene was basically a Hindu Love Gods record with superstar guests and THAT was REM with Zevon as lead writer/singer AND I know that REM has a new album about to come out, I thought this would be a good time (or as good a time as any) to look back on the quartet that brought college rock to the mainstream, created the Alternative scene and were the first band my generation could really call our own.
My college roommate was a HUGE REM fan. Because of him I really started listening. I only stopped when they lost all their irony and became the most pretentious group in music.
But those late night high school evenings, listening to WFMU and hearing, back to back, “I Will Follow” by U2 and “1,000,000” by REM set the stage for my musical future as well as the rest of the world’s.
R.E.M. – Chronic Town – 1981
Most of us had heard of REM by 1981. The rumblings in the mags about Radio Free Europe were loud. We wouldn’t get to hear that finished product for another year or so. While we waited, there was the Chronic Town EP. Jangle-nervosa is the best way to describe this record. Like many young men it sometimes feels rushed, like they are having such a great time that they can’t wait to finish. Doesn’t really matter, though, this was a new kind of folk, a new kind of rock. While New Wave was playing with more and more synthetic sounds, the boys from Athens had cut their teeth at live shows and had enlisted the mad genius Mitch Easter to produce and the result is perfect.
Wolves, Lower starts off the record and it’s the kind of track that would make a listener anxous to get back to it. Harmonies to die for, Peter Buck’s maniacally arpeggiated plucking. It’s followed immediately by Gardening at Night, which is The Byrds on speed and acid. There’s a healthy spattering of psychedelia in this song as many of us would take REM to task for later. The songs are also very simple proving that it’s the alchemy that’s just as important as the writing or producing. It had to be Buck, Mills, Berry and Stipe. That’s how it works. And we will see that proven later. I would reckon that, while Stipe is a master of imagery and poetry and Buck was redefining what a lead guitar was supposed to do and Mills is a bassist and arranger beyond compare, the real secret weapon of REM was Bill Berry. He’s the driving rock force. Like Tre Cool in Green Day, his contribution isn’t just to keep time, he’s an instrument without which, it would be impossible to focus. He’s more than just a connector, though. He’s the soul of the music.
Grade: A
ASide: The Whole Thing.
